It was late at night when they finally arrived at the final station. Daisuke slowed the punt to a full stop. "Alright kids, here we are! Good luck on your own." The three children got off the boat and waved goodbye to him. They passed by some shops that were already closed and put up at an inn for the night. Gazing at Naruto and Kimimaro's sleeping faces on the other bed, Tayuya recalled the last time they had a proper place to sleep. It was the day she met them. That day, she was perturbed at them suddenly showing up and insisting that they stay in the same room. Now, despite how she didn't want to admit it, she was feeling safe in their presence. Confused and annoyed at her own change over the past few days, Tayuya turned in her bed to face away from the boys before joining them in their sleep.

The next morning, the three children set out on the last part of their journey. They walked for three hours before reaching the Land of Wind. A desert that seemed to span forever was all they could see under the cloudless azure sky.

"How did I agree to all this bullshit?" Tayuya mumbled, her shoulders slumped.

"We'll need to ration our water," said Kimimaro with a frown.

"Come on guys, we can do this!" Naruto tried to cheer Kimimaro and Tayuya up, who looked discouraged at the sight of the vast desert.

Walking on the dusty road that stretched as far as the eye could see, the children found themselves perspiring in no time. Their lips were chapped and their hair stuck to their scalps.

"How the hell are we able to get to Suna? I'm already dying in this fucking heat," Tayuya grumbled, wiping her forehead with her sleeve.

"Naruto, you should only take a sip," Kimimaro reminded the boy, who was already drinking water in gulps from his bottle.

"Sorry," Naruto said and put his bottle back.

They continued down the road for two hours then ate a few loquats for lunch as they walked, not daring to waste any time under the scorching sun. Their sweat evaporated quickly in the dry air, but there was no wind to cool them off for even a little. After another four hours of trekking through the desert, their feet were sore and their water bottles were almost empty.

"What if we run out of water before we get through this desert?" asked Naruto.

"We should look for trees. We might be able to find an oasis near them," Kimimaro answered. "Don't drink up all your water for now."

They searched for any sign of vegetation in the boundless sand. Nothing but rocks could be seen. Naruto was starting to consider drinking the last bit of water in his bottle when Kurama's voice appeared in his mind. "Brat, I sensed chakra of 11 people. They're resting, so they might be getting water from an oasis. Go in the southwest direction."

"Thanks, Mr. Fox, you're the best!" Naruto thanked Kurama.

"I could really go for some water right now," Tayuya groaned.

"Don't worry guys, I can find it!" Naruto grinned and started to stray off the road.

"I don't see a tree in that direction," Kimimaro said in confusion.

Tayuya rolled her eyes. "I'm 99% sure that I'll die in this desert with an idiot leading the way."

Kimimaro and Tayuya trailed behind Naruto for nearly half an hour before palm trees appeared in the distance. The two exchanged looks of surprise. "Those people have started walking again," Kurama noted. "They're moving away from us." The three children finally stopped in front of a small pond surrounded by scrub and date palms. Dragonflies flew above the surface of the turquoise water. Footprints of multiple people were left on the sand nearby.

"Holy shit! Thank god for whatever you did to find it, shrimp!" Tayuya exclaimed.

"Hehe, no problem, guys." Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

They quenched their thirst and ate some dates that had fallen to the ground, then filled their bottles full. The air turned chilly as the sun began to set.

"What's up with him? He had no idea where to look for water, and then he suddenly became a goddam compass," Tayuya whispered to Kimimaro.

"It happened when we were in the Land of Rain too. He's special I guess," Kimimaro shrugged. "Naruto, I think we should settle beside this oasis tonight. What do you think?" He called Naruto, who was trying to catch a dragonfly.

"Okay!" Naruto replied.

The temperature dropped drastically after the fiery sun descended below the sandy hills, turning the landscape into a pitch-black canvas. The three children were soon overwhelmed by the freezing cold. They curled up together amid the shrubs. "We were hot as hell during the day but now we're freezing to death," Tayuya cursed, shivering. Kimimaro nodded in response and blew some warm air into his cupped hands. A full moon came out, providing just enough light for them to see each other's faces and spot a looming shadow in the vicinity.

"Naruto, look out!" Kurama alerted Naruto to a giant creature of a golden-yellow color. As the creature crawled closer, they could make out a pair of pincers, and then an orange tail carried in a forward curve over the back with a red stinger at the telson. They shot up to their feet and got into a defensive stance, staring in horror at the enormous monster.

"A giant fucking scorpion!" Tayuya yelled. "As if the insufferable fucking weather isn't enough!"

"What do we do? Run?" Naruto asked. The scorpion, which was larger than a cow, was approaching them on its eight long legs at a terrifying pace, waving its table-sized pincers as if showing its hunger.

"You two run!" Kimimaro answered.

"What about you?" Naruto glanced at Kimimaro.

Kimimaro took a step ahead. It looked unlikely that they could all outrun the giant scorpion. He must fight it to buy time for his friends. "I'm sorry if you guys hate me later, but I hope we survive this thing!"

"What do you mean?"

Ignoring Naruto's question, Kimimaro charged at the giant scorpion, which was coming at them from a few meters away. "Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!" he shouted, firing fingertip bones from his hands at the scorpion's two median eyes. The scorpion stopped in its tracks with its eyes shot and raised its fused head and thorax momentarily as if wincing in pain. Kimimaro ran around the scorpion in circles, swinging his arms and shooting bone bullets at the scorpion's five pairs of lateral eyes.

Naruto and Tayuya stared at Kimimaro in awe as he summoned a bone sword from his left shoulder. "Dance of the Camellia!" he shouted and stabbed the scorpion, paralyzing it for a second. Unfortunately, even without eyesight, scorpions could sense movement from vibrations. The scorpion swung around and tried to grab Kimimaro with its pincers, the sword still stuck on its abdomen. Kimimaro retreated and summoned another bone sword, but the arachnid slapped it away before he could do anything with it.

"We should help him!" Naruto cried.

"How?" asked Tayuya.

Kimimaro rolled away from the scorpion's attempt at snapping him. He summoned a third sword and managed to parry several attacks before it was slapped away again. Just before he was about to get caught, Naruto jumped onto the scorpion's back and inserted a bone sword he had picked up into its head. The monster thrashed around in pain trying to shake the sword off, swatting Naruto with its tail in the process. Naruto crashed head first into the sand twenty meters away and stayed lying on the ground.

"Naruto!!" Tayuya screamed and lashed out at the scorpion, smacking its segmented legs violently with another sword that had been left on the ground.

"Ughahhh!" Kimimaro shot a volley of drilling bullets at the scorpion then slashed at its pincers with a new sword in a blind rage. However to their dismay, the giant scorpion tanked every hit with its yellow exoskeleton.

Already tired after a day of walking in the desert, Tayuya could barely hold her own as she dodged the scorpion's ferociously snapping pincers, and Kimimaro's attacks were slowing down from exhaustion.

"It was nice knowing you, pale-face, guess we're gonna join shrimp soon," Tayuya said.

"No, he's not dead, he can't be!" Kimimaro didn't want to believe that they had lost their friend, but he wasn't certain himself. All he knew was that they were on their last legs.

They fought with the last bit of their strength, but to no avail. Just when Kimimaro felt like collapsing, they heard a loud roar and saw from the corner of their eyes Naruto on his hands and feet with a visible mass of orange chakra shrouding him. Naruto sprouted a chakra tail and lunged at the scorpion. Using his chakra tail, Naruto slammed the giant scorpion away from Kimimaro and Tayuya with such force that he sent it flying across the oasis. The giant scorpion hit a palm tree and flipped over, revealing the softer parts of its body. Naruto went in for the attack, slapping and smashing the scorpion relentlessly with his tail, cracking its exoskeleton and hammering it flat. Kimimaro and Tayuya watched breathlessly as Naruto kept battering the giant scorpion, until the monster couldn't move a leg anymore and finally died.

Kimimaro and Tayuya rushed up to Naruto, who was panting heavily, elbows and knees on the ground. The orange chakra cloak on Naruto had faded away. They crouched beside him and put a hand around his shoulders and back.

"Na… Naruto? Are you alright?" Kimimaro checked his friend's condition. Naruto nodded.

"You saved us, shrimp! I thought you were… " Tayuya's voice faltered. She was still recovering from the shock of seeing the nice boy suddenly behave like a beast.

"I thought…" Naruto paused to catch his breath. "You finally call me by my name."

"Huh?" Tayuya couldn't recall when she did. Naruto elicited a faint smile.

put in a review plz